Yuichi Nakajo

Yuichi Nakajo is a professor of mechanical engineering at the Ashikaga Institute of Technology in Japan.

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Yuichi Nakajo solar cooking workshops

November 2012: Yuichi Nakajo, Director of Collaborative Research Center Ashikaga Institute of Technology, reports on his solar cooker usage research - Yuichi Nakajo's field is the development of solar cookers for use in mid-latitude regions. He concentrates on designing cookers which work in Japan all the year, because the primary use of them is for education. The solar panel cooker, Educooker 003, was designed to be robust, and at the same time offer good concentration of the wide range of the sun's elevation by employing a ray tracing technique. Now we are going to put the durable plastic version, developed through the joint research with the Japanese largest aluminum foil company, Toyo Aluminum K. K., into the market. Our other products include plastic concentrator types with discretely approximated parabolic reflectors for uniform and safe heating. To satisfy the need and wants from all users, we prepare the kits with various types with wide price range. Many Japanese say solar cookers are only educational materials and are not reliable, because you cannot use it on the rainy days. But I do not believe it. Last March I sent all the members in my laboratory the Educooker to several disaster areas by request, but unfortunately I did not receive any replies. I suspect most of them were never tried. We cannot force them to use solar cookers, but at least warm food and warm drink could be of considerable help. I reconfirmed the importance of everyday education of solar cooking for everyone. That is the reason I conduct more than fifty classes each year. For more information: nakajo@ashitech.ac.jp